You Chose Her - Face To Face
by Divess
Summary: It's all come down to this. On February 10th after six months apart, Draco and Hermione are scheduled to meet face to face. Hurtful things have been said and done on both sides. Will Draco and Hermione be able to undo the mess they've made? One shot. 4th and last in a series. Angst/Drama. Dramione. This chapter rated M.


**All things Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. The storyline is mine. **

**Be warned: Rated M for language and romantic interludes.**

**FanFiction/Fandom**

**You Chose Her - Face To Face**

2/10/2009

Hermione was the first to arrive. She stepped out of the floo and took a look around. Harry's house had always felt like home and anytime she was in London she made sure she stopped by even if it was only for a quick drink.

Hermione walked through the rooms touching things, looking at things and generally reminding herself what a good friend Harry was even after all these years. Hermione went as far as to admit she didn't know what she would do without Harry.

She was studying a photo of her, Ron and Harry from 1994 at the Quidditch World Cup thinking how young they were when Nigel popped up. "May I get you something Miss Hermione?"

"A white wine would be lovely Nigel. Thank you."

Hermione put the photo back on the shelf and sat down on the couch with the white wine.

She wondered if Draco would show up at the same time she wondered what she was doing there. Hermione kept telling herself it was to get everything sorted and try to undo the mess two people had made of their relationship and friendship. In her heart, Hermione hoped it would be more, but would be happy if the day ended better than it started.

Hermione became lost in thought as she went back over the things which had caused her and Draco to split up.

Draco had been so sure she had shagged Rory. She hadn't.

Rory was a producer who intimated he had a part for her in his next movie and had shown Hermione some attention. Hermione knew she had stepped a little out of bounds with Rory, but a little out of bounds was all it had been. She never even kissed the wizard. Although, Rory had finally made it clear he wanted to kiss her. He also made it clear he expected to shag her, but she told him to shove his expectations. The movie part Hermione had been after had gone to another starlet who would shag Rory.

Hermione had come back to cold reality to find Draco gone and Rory's dick hanging out of his pants. She had cried about Draco and told Rory to put his dick back where it belonged.

Hermione wondered how it was so easy to now sit there and see how it must have looked to others. She had to admit that even to her eyes it looked as though she was having an affair. Before her big blow out with Draco, Harry had pulled her aside to explain what people were saying and she had brushed him off, "Those people need to keep their noses out of my business. Rory and I are just friends."

She remembered Harry's reply, "It just doesn't look good to be on the arm of a bloke who isn't your wizard Hermione. You're acting as though you're single."

She remembered going up the front and down the back of Harry telling him off. It's a wonder Harry had remained her friend.

It was so easy for her to put everything in perspective now. It was crystal clear. When she had been in the middle of it, her actions had seemed perfectly reasonable.

It had never been Hermione's intention to hurt Draco, but she had. She now understood just how deeply. While in the midst of it all, Draco's accusations had done nothing but infuriate her. She couldn't believe he would accuse her. She couldn't believe he would think so lowly of her and so she had retaliated with hateful rhetoric of her own. The end result had been Draco finding Cleo.

Just mentioning that name made tears well up in Hermione's eyes. Cleo had Draco. No matter how much she and Draco got settled today, Cleo still had Draco. Tears had begun to spill out of Hermione's eyes. She had messed up.

Nigel popped up out of nowhere and handed her a box of tissues. Hermione smiled fondly at the house elf as she thanked him.

"No be sad Miss Hermione. Master Draco coming soon."

Hermione had been surprised. She had no idea how Nigel knew anything about Draco coming. The only thing she could think of was Nigel must have heard the conversation when she and Harry spoke on the phone. House elves normally didn't repeat things heard in wizard conversations, but it was her conversation so Nigel really wasn't doing anything wrong.

After Hermione finished wondering how Nigel knew Draco was on his way, she had become nervous because Draco was on his way. Hermione anticipated seeing Draco, but she was also fearful of seeing Draco.

/*/

Draco had been ready to go to Harry's house for the last several hours, but he just couldn't bring himself to apparate in. He had had to fortify himself with fire whiskey. He wanted to see Hermione, but he didn't want to see Hermione. The truth for Draco was he still had deep feelings for Hermione that weren't going away anytime soon, but he had been vile to her. He had said vile things to her. Draco knew he should have handled things differently, but at the time he hadn't cared about the niceties. He had only cared that his witch had taken up with another wizard.

Draco had listened to the gossip and the gossips were sure Hermione had let fucking git Rory make love to her. That one piece of misinformation had cut Draco more deeply than any other piece of information in his life before or since and he had lashed out and he had acted out. He thought Hermione was sleeping with Rory, so he had turned to Cleo hoping to hurt Hermione as badly as she had hurt him and he had accomplished his mission. He had wounded Hermione as she had wounded him.

He and Hermione had broken up by way of a letter. At the time, he had been so hurt and so angry he hadn't cared and it was also at the time Cleo had set him an ultimatum. She had warned him to stay away from Hermione if he wanted to be in a relationship with her and even though he agreed to her terms, he still answered Hermione's letter. Draco had been in such a state that he never wanted to see Hermione again, but did want to hurt her as much as he could.

A month into his relationship with Cleo, Draco began to get moody. Cleo wasn't stupid when it came to wizards. She knew Draco had calmed down enough to realize he had walked away from the witch he loved. Halfway through the second month of her and Draco's relationship, Cleo started shagging Theo Nott on the side. Cleo failed to mention this fact to Draco, but Theo had come to Draco to explain himself after the first time he and Cleo were intimate. Draco hadn't even gotten angry. He just thanked Theo for coming to him telling him he could have Cleo.

The next time Cleo showed up at his flat Draco had remarked, "Theo came to see me to let me know you have initiated sex with him. Were you going to wait until you were married with babies to tell me you were shagging him?"

Cleo had tried a line of bluster, but Draco wasn't having any of it. "You were so very eager to tell me Hermione was shagging Rory yet you neglect to enlighten me when it involves your own pussy. I can't believe I was taken in by you. Just get out of my sight and out of my life."

Cleo had packed up her things and left spitting venom. "That's fine you arsehole. Now you can go find your precious Hermione. Good riddance to your arse." Then she was gone.

Draco hadn't run to find Hermione because he had fucked that up and Hermione didn't want him anymore. He didn't date because he just couldn't generate enough interest in any witch to ask her out. On several occasions Harry had read him the riot act about contacting Hermione to get everything straightened out, but he had ignored Harry.

There were many witches who had wanted to slip into Draco's life and into his bed as well, but Draco didn't want any of them. He had remained celibate and adjusted himself and his dick to life without his witch.

Now six months later, Draco felt entirely different. He wanted to talk it out. He wanted to get past the bull shite. He just didn't know how Hermione felt and he sure didn't know if she would show up.

Draco heard a pop and looked around to find Nigel standing in the doorway. "Master Draco sir. Miss Hermione is waiting," and with another pop, Nigel had disappeared.

Draco didn't know what to feel. He hoped he would be able to hold a coherent conversation with his ex-witch, but the way he was feeling, he wasn't sure. Just to give himself a bit more time to calm down, Draco went into the bathroom to brush his teeth then he had taken a deep breath and apparated to Harry's house.

/*/

Hermione was in the kitchen getting herself another glass of white wine when she heard the pop of apparition. A tremble ran through her body and she had taken a sip of wine and walked through to the living room.

There he was. Draco was standing there looking at her and those magnificent gray eyes were staring straight at her. Hermione's knees went weak and she had mumbled, "Hello Draco. You're looking fit."

Draco smiled. "Not near as fit as you. How have you been?"

Initially, it had been a little awkward between them with their prior words and actions hanging the air like the proverbial elephant in the room, but Nigel who seemed to be working as hard as Harry to get this relationship back on track popped up, "Would Miss Hermione and Master Draco like me to fix dinner? I can fix your favorite fettuccine alfredo with broccoli and chicken."

Hermione glanced at Draco and answered for them both. "That would be lovely Nigel. Thank you. Is it possible for you to bring white wine for me and fire whiskey for Draco?"

Nigel had responded in the affirmative and had popped out and back within seconds.

Hermione and Draco who had taken seats as far away from each other as possible thanked Nigel.

Draco was first to speak as he cheekily asked, "Never going to give up on that white wine. Are you?"

Hermione had smiled into her glass as she responded, "Nope. Just like you won't give up the fire whiskey."

"Touché. Although I have also become quite fond of brandy as well. Are you working on a project right now?"

"No. Not right now. My next project doesn't start until late July and we'll be working from California. How about you? Are you on any projects right now?"

Draco had replied, "I've just finished a project as well. I'm on a scheduled hiatus until May."

With that conversation finished, the former lovers sat quietly lost in their own thoughts.

Hermione broke the silence this time. "It was nice of Harry to lend us his house for this meeting. He's been after me for ages to meet with you."

"He's been after me as well, but I've been afraid you wouldn't want meet with me so I kept putting it off said Draco wistfully. I now know we should at least try to get back to friends as one cannot have too many friends."

Hermione had laughed. "One definitely cannot have too many friends." The nervous pair sipped their drinks in another bout of silence.

Draco had cleared his throat and when Hermione looked into his eyes, another tremble went through her body, but she sat quietly waiting for Draco to speak.

And he had plunged ahead. "I want to apologize for all the things I said and did last August. I worked myself into a frenzy thinking about you leaving me to be with Rory. I listened to rumors and jumped when I should have sat still and held a discussion with you. I'm sorry."

There was a tiny bit of hesitation before Hermione spoke. "I owe you an apology as well Draco. I loved you and thought you trusted me. It never occurred to me how it looked being in Rory's company as much as I was. I apologize for that. In my own defense I can say I never crossed any lines with Rory. He and I were never intimate. I know you don't believe that because you have told me as much, but all I can do is tell you the truth. I have to admit I later learned it was Rory's ultimate goal to get into my knickers. It just wasn't my goal to let him. No matter what it looked like, all my body parts belonged to you. But, after you turned to Cleo, I basically fell apart which led me to make a number of statements out of anger and fury. For those I apologize as well. I was hurt."

With Hermione's last statement just out of her mouth, Nigel appeared to call them to dinner and they had gone through to the dining room to share a dinner. The atmosphere had been much more relaxed since they had gotten their apologies out and Hermione and Draco made small talk throughout dinner with neither of them discussing anything more complicated than the news and weather.

"I caught your modeling project in one of those American magazines. You looked amazing. I'll tell you a funny thing. Mr. dick here hadn't realized we weren't together anymore and went hard as a rock in anticipation. I had to take measures."

Hermione laughed so hard wine came out her nostrils, but Draco had been up in a flash with a napkin. Hermione had continued to laugh for a full minute while Draco stood by helplessly. When her laughter had subsided, Hermione sobered enough to ask, "What did Cleo think about that?"

"Cleo and I aren't together. She and I broke up at the end of September. Our relationship was pretty short lived after she started shagging Theo. Cleo started and ended our relationship believing I was still in love with you."

Hermione put her eyes on her plate without commenting and the silence enveloped them once more.

When Hermione finally looked up, she looked straight into those gray eyes. Only this time, Draco's eyes had the look Hermione knew so well, that smoky look. It was his look of sex and lust. Hermione immediately looked back down into her plate and began to turn the cold food over and over with her fork.

Hermione thought she had to be mistaken about the look in Draco's eyes or maybe she hoped to have seen the look. It was uncanny because her body seemed to be in tune with Draco's smoldering look and she had to move about in her chair to get comfortable in her moisture soaked knickers.

Across the table, Draco was feeling precisely the way Hermione imagined. Simply holding a conversation with Hermione had made him want her. Draco had to move about in his chair trying to get his suddenly hard dick in a more comfortable position. Draco wanted to take his ex-witch to bed and make her scream out his name. Just like when they were a couple. The more Draco thought about this the harder his dick became. He finally had to excuse himself to the bathroom to relieve his massive erection. After throwing up locking and silencing spells, Draco stood over the bathtub and relieved his problem. Spelling the bathtub clean, Draco knew Harry would curse him if he found out. Now back to himself, Draco returned to the dining room to find it empty. Hermione had obviously returned to the living room so Draco turned around and headed into the living room and found Hermione sitting on the couch.

Hermione was surprised when Draco sat down beside her. He hadn't crowded her. He had simply sat in her vicinity. Hermione didn't mind because it felt good to be in his presence.

Draco stared straight ahead when he made his next statement, "I can't take back my behavior with Cleo. It can't be undone. What I can tell you is that I haven't been with any other witch since. I haven't wanted to be intimate with any witch. Until today."

Hermione looked at her former lover. He had just said, _until today_. Her perception of his smoky eyes had been correct. Draco still wanted her. A small smile began to play across her lips. Hermione realized that she didn't care anymore that Draco had been with Cleo. She could get past that since it had been her fault as much as his. She cared that Draco had just admitted to wanting her. Although Hermione was beaming inside, she knew they had more to discuss.

Draco turned to look at Hermione. "What can we do to correct this? How do we get back to where we used to be?"

"Maybe we can examine what we feel now. I mean outside of wanting to have sex."

Draco had grinned, "Am I that obvious?"

"Your eyes have always given you away, Hermione remarked. They get so smoky when you want to make love."

Still grinning Draco replied, "You are the only witch who has ever commented on the state of my eyes. Perhaps they only appear that way to the one I love."

Hermione had sucked in her breath. Draco had just made another big statement and she had to force herself to breathe. Instead of concentrating on Draco's statement she asked, "What do we do about what has transpired between us?"

Without missing a beat Draco replied, "We put it as far back in the recesses of our minds as possible, but we retain the ability to remember our consequences so we never let it happen again. I have a jealous streak which sometimes causes me to do foolish things and when it comes to you Hermione I can't promise I won't ever be jealous again. The best I can do is promise to discuss things rather than go off half cocked."

Hermione concurred with Draco's statements. "I agree. We both tend to be a little jealous. We would need to work on that and as you say, the way to go is discussion rather than blowing up the household."

Draco looked hopeful as he asked Hermione, "Are you saying there is a chance for us to get back together?"

Hermione was quick to reply, "I think there is zero chance of us getting back together unless you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't believe I had sex with Rory. It's the one sticking point I can't get out of my head. No matter how angry you get, you can't possibly believe I'd sleep with another wizard while I'm with you. That last Monday with you before all hell broke loose is the last time I've had sex with anyone. My last and only partner was you. I need for you to tell me what you believe."

Draco felt his face heat up as he cleared his throat. This was something he never wanted to discuss again. Those ugly statements had been made out of anger and frustration and he truly regretted his hateful words. In his most earnest voice he replied, "I listened to rumors. I was protecting my ego and pride. For that moment Hermione I did believe what appearances seemed to imply. I'm sorry. It was a mistake. I truly do not believe you would ever cheat on me."

Hermione thought for a moment before she answered, "With all that we've gone through, I can live with that Draco."

"In that case Draco remarked, "May I ask you to be my witch again? Will you start over with me?"

Hermione had already made up her mind and easily replied in the affirmative. "I will be your witch and I'm hoping this time it will be for keeps."

Draco was chuffed as he jumped up from the couch and pulled Hermione up beside him and then he kissed his witch for the first time in six months and she kissed him back. Draco took over her mouth. He used his tongue and his teeth and then his tongue again and when they broke apart each had been thoroughly kissed. They looked into each other's eyes before Draco wrapped Hermione in his arms and rocked her back and forth as if he was rocking a baby.

Draco whispered, "We may have gotten off track, but I've never stopped loving you Hermione. Never."

"And I never stopped loving or wanting you Draco." For a time they stood in the middle of Harry's living room hugging each other.

They had talked, come to an equitable agreement and sealed their agreement with a kiss. It was all back to right. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were back to where they belonged. They were back to being a couple.

Holding Hermione to his chest, Draco whispered, "I trust you. Never again will I question your choices ir decisions, but that is not to say I won't feel pangs of jealousy when another wizard….."

Hermione put her finger on Draco's lips, "And I'll never doubt you again."

Nigel chose that moment to enter the living room carrying two flutes of champagne. He handed a flute to Hermione then to Draco, bowed and backed out of the room.

Draco held up his glass, "To Harry. The-boy-who-knows-everything. We are deeply indebted to you."

Hermione cheered, "Here! Here!" and they emptied their flutes before coming back together.

Draco put his hands into Hermione's hair as he brushed his lips against hers murmuring, "I love you Hermione and I never want to chance losing you again. You are mine."

Hermione snuggled herself against Draco. "You will never lose me. You are going to be stuck with me for a long time."

Draco put his mouth to Hermione's ear. "Is there the slightest possibility this wizard will get a chance to make love with his witch tonight?"

Hermione giggled as she grabbed Draco by the hand leading him to the nearest guest room as she cheeked, "I hope Harry doesn't mind us borrowing his bedroom."

"If we are to believe the obvious, I think Mr. Potter hoped we would."

For the first five minutes, Hermione and Draco were shy with each other. Draco had hesitated taking off Hermione's clothes and Hermione had averted her eyes as Draco undressed, but every bit of shyness disappeared with their first touch. Draco fought to keep his breathing under control as he ran his fingers over Hermione's breasts, and she began shivering at his touch. After that, time had fallen away and it was as though the two were never apart.

Hermione ran her fingers over Draco's body making him groan out loud. "I have my witch back." His words made Hermione run water and she became so wet she leaked onto the bed. Draco moved his hand between her legs and groaned, "I will make it up to you love, but right now I need to be inside you."

Hermione didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. She Draco to her, wrapped her hand around his erection and guided him up to her slit and with one push Draco entered his witch.

It was good they were alone in the house because they hadn't put any silencing spells on the door and they both had loudly given voice to their pleasure. Silencing spells had really been in order.

Draco groaned and Hermione moaned as they thrust their way to climax. When they finished, Draco had kissed Hermione all over her face, neck and breasts and Hermione gave herself over to the Draco's ministrations as she laid there soaking up the pleasure.

After a short while, Draco turned on his side to gaze at Hermione. "You are so beautiful. I've missed you and I'm so very glad to have you back."

Hermione reached over to rub Draco's chest and her touch made Draco erect again. He climbed onto Hermione and brought them to climax once more. Throughout the evening, Hermione and Draco practiced their sex moves five more times before falling asleep in each other's arms. Draco woke up four hours later and slipped out of bed to use the bathroom and take a shower. After he finished cleaning up, Draco tiptoed out to ask Nigel to prepare a light supper and Nigel had been very eager to comply.

Before he went back into the bedroom, Draco took a moment to thank Merlin for bringing Hermione back to him then he returned to his witch.

Hermione was awake watching Draco from under her eyelids. She was very happy the day had turned out as it had and that she and Draco were a couple again.

Hermione laid there thinking about the many lessons involved in their situation. As brilliant as she was, Hermione had still learned some big lessons. The biggest lesson had been about appearances. Never again would she put herself in a situation which had any appearance of impropriety. She owed that to herself and she owed that to her wizard.

Her thread of thought was broken when Draco sat down on the side of the bed and nuzzled her neck. She had automatically thrown her arms around his neck which made draco cheek, "Ah! Just pretending to be sleep. Were we?"

Hermione laughed, "I wasn't pretending anything. I was watching my very handsome wizard walk around the bedroom in his boxers. It is a lovely sight."

Draco moved the blanket covering Hermione and ran his hand up and down her body. As he looked into Hermione's eyes he pushed two fingers inside her and gently stroked her which caused Hermione to adjust herself so that Draco had full access. He began to stroke Hermione more vigorously as she became more and more excited and finally finished her off with his mouth. Hermione climaxed moaning Draco's name which in turn caused an immediate erection on Draco. As they had been so active earlier in the evening, Draco cautiously asked permission to have sex again. Hermione welcomed her lover one more time and they made love looking into each other's eyes. By the time Hermione and Draco climaxed, they had almost fused souls. As they relaxed, Draco pulled Hermione's back up against his front and they had gone back to sleep for several more hours.

Later that evening, Hermione and Draco woke almost simultaneously. They had showered and gone out to eat the supper Nigel had put out.

After their supper, Draco and Hermione sat together talking quietly and by the time the sun came up, things between Draco and Hermione were back to where they had been six months ago. They were back to friends and lovers. The only difference, there wasn't a Cleo or a Rory in the picture anywhere. There was only Dramione.

_**Harry will be so happy. **_

_**The End**_

Thank you for your support. Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate them all.


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